Standalone USB Flash to USB Flash Data Transfer

Index

Sr.
Topic Page No.
No
1. Abstract 2

2. Innovation 4

3. Introduction 6

4. Block Diagram & Description 9

5. Components Selection 13

6. Circuit Schematic and Explanation 15

7. Applications 17

8. Work Plan 19

9. References 21

10. Demonstration Strategy 23

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abstract

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Abstract
The Computer has become an inseparable part of life for many people in the world. Its
innumerable uses have changed the life of many, not only in technical field but also in non
technical field. Moreover, now-a-days, with increasing use of the computer, people are
getting well versed with use of the peripherals that are associated with it. These peripherals
give additional features to the already existing functionalities of the computer, while some
enhance them. Along with the advancements in capabilities of the Computer, the
capabilities of these peripherals have also been improved, thus, making it simpler and more
user-friendly for the user. Gradually, using the computer has become a ‘child’s play’ in the
literal sense of the term. To make it even more simple, the ways by which these peripherals
are interfaced with the computer have also changed and improved. The central idea of this
project revolves around one such peripheral- the USB. This much user friendly device class
is actually recognized by its Connection type viz. the BUS; called the Universal Serial Bus.
It comprises of just four connection wires between the Host (Computer) and the Device,
governed by a set of rules called the Protocol. The aim of this project is to transfer data
remotely without using a computer, from one USB flash disk to another.

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2
Idea Innovation
(Literature survey with references)

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2.1 Idea Innovation

The idea of this project was taken, looking at the problems faced by daily life Flash
Drive Users to transfer the data from one disk to another. Carrying a computer or a laptop
just for the sake of data transfer is not affordable these days in the age when people want all
devices to be as small and handy as possible. Moreover, transferring data via a computer
involves a lot of power to be wasted, since the computer has to be entirely functional before
it can transfer data.
Considering the massive market for all types of USB devices which is growing at an
exponential rate, there is a need for the USB host devices to keep up with it. There are
numerous types of data transactions that are being carried out through these devices. These
USB devices are shrinking in sizes day by day but not the equipment which is required to
access them.
However to operate these devices most of the times an operating system is required
which calls for the hosts to be extremely complicated system hence accessing these devices
requires complicated hardware, hence a controller that can handle the data transfer and
initiates the USB transactions was searched.

Literature Survey
A core team from Compaq, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Lucent, Microsoft, NEC and
Philips leading the development of the USB Specification, version 2.0, that has increased
data throughput by a factor of 40. This backwards-compatible extension of the USB 1.1
specification uses the same cables, connectors and software interfaces so the user will see
no change in the usage model. They will, however, benefit from an additional range of
higher performance peripherals, such as video-conferencing cameras, next-generation
scanners and printers, and fast storage devices, with the same ease-of-use features as
[1]
today’s USB peripherals . USB supports three bus speeds: high speed at 480
Megabits/sec., full speed at 12 Megabits/sec., and low speed at 1.5 Megabits/sec. The USB
host controllers in recent PCs support all three speeds [2].
The USB Host Controller is in charge of asking every USB device if it has any data
to send. Because of this topology, Device can not start sending data without being
prompted [4]. This justifies the need for a USB Host Controller and its Configuration

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3
Introduction

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Introduction
Numerous applications arise in the daily life of a common Computer user that he has to
transfer data from one USB Flash device into another, that too very quickly and on the go.
For this he has to first find a computer then wait for it to boot up, then plug in his device,
and then transfer the data. Different types and makes of USB flash devices are used now-a-
days. It is not necessary that all of these devices are supported by the computer and the
operating system and their device drivers are available and installed.

Carrying a computer or a laptop just for the sake of data transfer is not affordable these
days in the age when people want all devices to be handy. Moreover, transferring data via a
computer involves a lot of power to be wasted, since the computer has to be entirely
functional before it can transfer data.

Also, the threat of viruses and malware has made the life of common computer users all
the more complicated. These viruses get activated as soon as the device is plugged into the
system and get copied along with other data from one flash device into another.

Our project here can provide a valuable solution to all problems faced by person in
above situations. Our aim is to build a small and handy device to transfer data from one
USB Flash device to another.

The device will have following features:-

• Small, light weight and handy device

• Powered by 9V battery
• Support for all USB Flash devices formatted with FAT32 file System
• Support for USB 2.0
• Plug and Go function

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About Universal Serial Bus (USB)[5]

USB was initially designed to be an interface for communicating with many types
of peripherals without the limits and frustrations of older interfaces. Every recent PC
includes USB ports that can connect to standard peripherals such as keyboards, mice,
scanners, cameras, printers, and storage drives. It is a very useful protocol designed for a
computer to communicate with almost any type of peripheral.
Some of its benefits for users include:
1. Single Interface for many devices
2. Considerably high Data rate
3. Automatic Configuration
4. Easy connection
5. Hot Pluggable
6. No user Settings
7. Frees Hardware Resources for other devices
8. No extra Power Supply needed
9. Low Cost and Low Power consumption

Benefits for Developer include:

1. Versatility
2. Operating System support
3. Peripheral support
4. Open source Support available online

 Inside USB:
As mentioned above, the connection comprises of four Connecting Lines viz.
1. VCC 3. D+
2. D- 4. Ground
The VCC and Ground are the power supply signals to the device. D+ and D- are the
data lines through which actual data transfer takes place. Both D+ and D- are bidirectional
lines, both carrying data in a single direction at a time and data is modulated into
differential voltage levels to be transferred over them. The directions of D+ and D- are
reversed in TDM manner to transmit and receive data. It is a connectivity with peer-to-peer
communication.

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 Variants:

Introduce Supported Compatibilit

Version
d Speeds y
1.0 January1996 Low Speed -
September1
1.1 Low Speed, Full Speed Backward
998
Low Speed, Full
2.0 April2000 USB 1.1, USB 1.0
Speed, High Speed
December20
3.0 Super Speed USB 2.0
08

Low Speed has data rate of 1.536Mbits/s, Full Speed has 12Mbits/s, High Speed has
480Mbits/s, Super Speed has 5Gbits/s

 Components:
The host is a PC or other computer that contains a USB host
controller and a root hub. The host initiates all transfers. The host controller
formats data for transmitting on the bus and translates received data to
a format that operating-system components can understand. The host
controller also performs other functions related to managing
communications on the bus. The root hub has one or more connectors
for attaching devices. The root hub, in combination with the host
controller, detects attached and removed devices, carries out requests
from the host controller, and passes data between devices and the host
controller.
The host controller creates Endpoints in the device. Endpoints are
buffers or small parts of memory used to send data to, or receive data
from. It also establishes connection called Pipes which are virtual wires
for transfer of data. A maximum of 128 devices can be connected in
cascade theoretically.
There are 4 types of data transfers- Control used for configuration
and handshake, Bulk used for huge data exchange like a file copy,
Interrupt used for small information exchange, and Isochronous is used
when acknowledgement is not needed like in case of video camera.

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4
Block diagram & Description

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Block Diagram

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Block Diagram Description

1) USB Flash Disk:

These are our source and target Devices. They will be connected to the USB Host
Controller IC via the USB interface. Both the devices can be accessed simultaneously. The
memory on them is in the form of Flash which is accessed by an on board hardware. These
devices have also got protocol handling hardware included on device.
Before making the devices available for use, the Operating system formats the device
with a file format. FAT-8, FAT-16, FAT-32, NTFS, are some file systems available in
Microsoft Operating Systems. Majority of USB Flash devices are formatted in FAT-32 file
system. There may sometimes be Partitions on the drive. Data encrypted with all above
formats can be accessed with an efficient Firmware on the USB Host Controller.

2) USB Host Controller IC:

This is a microcontroller which has an interface to connect a USB device. It has a
Central Processing Unit of its own. The requirement here is of 2 USB ports. It is the main
device that handles the USB protocol and does the jobs of the USB host. It may contain an
Operating System and also device drivers to interact with the device. It will be responsible
for creation of endpoints, establishment of pipes, initiating transfers, enumeration etc. We
can preferably look for capability like DMA so that CPU remains free while Data transfer
Its components are for following functions:
USB Port 1 & 2:
These are for the physical connection of the USB devices. They should be able to handle
the physical part of the USB protocol connection. Many a times, the ports also have the
required pull-up and pull-down resistors for host or slave signalling mode. They handle the
+3.3V differential signalling which is a USB standard. These blocks handle the parallel-to-
serial and serial-to-parallel conversion of the USB physical layer. This includes bit stuffing,
CRC generation, USB frame generation and protocol error checking.
Central Hardware Core:
It contains the CPU of the Host Controller. Required to do all the functions a
microcontroller does plus some additional ones. Here it accepts the information from the
microcontroller unit a, decodes it and forwards it to the Command monitor for further
execution of commands. It can also be used to handle functions such as configuration of
peripherals connected to Host controller and communications, Sleep mode, booting etc

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GPIO Ports:
These may or may not be present on the USB host controller. They can be used
sometimes for communicating with peripheral devices and for General Purpose I/O ports
functions.
Command Monitor:
Communicating with and controlling the Host Controller is achieved by sending
instructions to the command monitor and interpreting the results. Command monitor is a
firmware like Operating System. The command monitor provides an interface which can be
utilised by a microcontroller to read and send data. A prompt is returned when the Host
Controller is ready to execute a command. Status and error information is returned after a
command has completed and event notifications are relayed to the monitor.

3) Microcontroller
The Host controller has to be sent commands to. These commands are in the form
of series of bytes that have to be sent over the Txd and Rxd lines serially. This work is done
by the Microcontroller. It can also be used to program the Host controller. It is also
required for interfacing the user interfaces.
Firmware Functions:
The firmware on the microcontroller will be function to first take inputs from the
user via the keypad routines. It will also be responsible for functions such as detection of
devices and waking system from sleep, entering power saving mode, handling of the
monitor display routines, monitoring responses coming from Host controller and taking
actions etc.
Command Lookup Table:
This is an array of bytes stored in the data memory of Microcontroller. A pointer
used to access this memory array depending upon the commands given by the user or the
relative action to be taken depending upon the status.
GPIO:
It is necessary for interfacing of keypad and the display to the microcontroller.

4) Keypad and Display:

Used by the system to establish communication with user and take inputs from user.

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Component selection

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Component Selection

1). USB Host Controller IC-VNC1L:

To begin with, selection of the USB host controller IC is to be done. Host
controllers can be found in market, in two types viz. Dedicated IC for USB Host, Slave and
device operations, and USB Host controllers included in microcontrollers. The second most
important criteria to look for is the presence of two USB ports on the Host Controller to
avoid the use of buffer and extra hardware. One more feature to look for was support for
FAT-32 file system included hardwired on the Host controller to avoid complications in
microcontroller code to decode it. A dedicated USB Host Controller from Vinculum was
found- VNC1L.
It has got following features over host controllers included on chip of General
Purpose Microcontrollers:
 Two independent USB 2.0 Low speed / Full speed USB Host / Slave ports
 Entire USB protocol handled on the chip
 8/32bit MCU core
 Twin DMA controllers for hardware acceleration
 64kB embedded Flash ROM Prog. Memory, 4kB Data SRAM
 Interface to MCU / PLD / FPGA via UART/ FIFO/SPI interface
 Up to 28 GPIO interface pins for data I/O and command monitor interface
 3.3V operation with 5V safe inputs

Along with these features, VNC1L has some other features that make it most suitable for
the application.

Criteria for VNC1L selection

 Twin Host Controllers inbuilt
 Availability of Twin DMA controllers
 Availability of ready VDAP
 NCU- 32bit Numeric Co-processor Unit for handling of FAT32 file system
 Handles entire USB protocol On Chip

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2). General Purpose Microcontroller

For commanding/ programming USB Host controller PIC 16F688 IC is used. Any
General purpose Controller can be used with sufficient memory to store commands that are
to be given to Host controller and having sufficient GPIO ports to interface Human
Interface Devices. Hence PIC 16F688 is selected. (This controller may be changed in case
of requirement to add additional features to entire device and make it more user friendly)
PIC 16F688 has following features:
 14-Pin Flash-Based, 8-Bit Microcontroller
 Wide operating voltage range (2.0V-5.5V)
 12 I/O pins with individual direction control
 Operating Current:
- 8.5μA @ 32 kHz, 2.0V, typical
- 100μA @ 1 MHz, 2.0V, typical
 Enhanced USART Module
 In-Circuit Serial Programming
 4kB on chip Program Memory, 256 bytes data memory

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Circuit schematic
& explanation

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Explanation
1). VNC1L USB Host Controller
The controller is based around a custom processor core with twin direct memory
access (DMA) engines to accelerate data transfers and a 32bit numeric co-processor to
optimise the calculations for the file system - all in a single chip with 64Kbytes of
embedded flash program memory and 4Kbytes of internal data SRAM.
Vinculum is specifically targeted at the embedded USB controller market and
requires a minimum of external support components. One key feature of the Vinculum core
is that its code length is significantly reduced compared with common MCU cores.
Reducing the code overhead of the core allows much more functionality to be squeezed
into the on-chip e-flash memory.
The DMA controllers are controlled automatically by hardware and there is no need
for developer to configure or use them manually at the time of using the IC in projects [3].

2). PIC16F688 Microcontroller

The PIC is the controller of the system, taking data from sensors or other sources
via its general purpose I/O pins (RC0, RC1, RA2 on pins 9,10,11), converting the data
format and writing that data in a stream to a file on the flash drive. Commands and data are
sent via TXD (pin 6) to the VNC1L RXD (pin 32). VNC1L handles the FAT 12/16/32 file
creation and data storage on the USB Flash drive communicating with the drive via
USB2DM and USB2DP on pins 28 and 29. Data is read from the flash drive via the same
pins, and sent from the VNC1L TXD (pin 31) to the RXD (pin 5) of the PIC for use by the
system firmware.
The system is controlled by the firmware on the PIC, with the transfers controlled
by instructions issued by the PIC and interpreted by the standard firmware on the
Vinculum. Whilst that is a simple description of the system, there is more required to
complete the design. The devices need power, crystals to control their clocks, and they need
to be programmed.
Using a 20MHz crystal on pins 2 and 3 of the PIC allows for higher baud rates of up
to 115200 bit/s in its UART interface as opposed to the maximum 9600 bit/s achievable by
using the internal 8MHz oscillator, thus improving the performance of the system. PIC IO
pins RC2 and RC3 are used by the PIC firmware to simulate RTS/CTS handshake signals
with the VNC1Ls UART interface.

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3). 3.3v LDO Regulator

VNC1L requires a 3.3v supply which is provided by a 3.3v LDO regulator, and has
5v tolerant IO pins which enable it to connect to the PIC without using level shifters.
Input to this regulator is supplied through 9V battery.

4). Twin USB Port

On PCB there are two Receptacle Shells which are inlet for the USB Drives. USB
drives can be inserted through these receptacle ports. It has inbuilt four wired combination
which can be mounted on the PCB. The shell is being grounded with net GND.

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applications

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Applications
This type of a device can be useful in the day to day life of the common computer
user. Hen a person uses a USB Flash Disk to store his data, there come situations when he
has to transfer this data from one Flash Disk to another very frequently.

A device like this can come very handy at such times. Further applications include:
 Quick and easy access to device
 Easy to carry
 Low power consumption
 Easy to use
 Plug and go functionality
 Used wherever USB data has to be transferred

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Work plan

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Phases for this semester

Sr. No. Dates Phase

Searching the information about latest
1. July 2nd week
technologies & projects based on it.
Discussing with teachers & Finalizing the
2. July 3rd week
project
Study of the required components and
3. Aug 1st week
software i.e. Feasibility study
Detailed study of the Project including
4. Aug 2nd week
USB Protocol
5. Aug 3rd week Surveyed FTDI sites

6. Sep 1st week Searching of USB Host Controller IC

7. Sep 2nd week Searching of stack for host controller

8. Sep 3rd week Selection of PIC Microcontroller

9. Sep 4th week Searching for USB Device Driver

10. Oct 1st week Firmware & Linux Device Driver

11. Oct 2nd week Designing of circuit schematic

12. Oct 4th week Documentation

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Phases for next semester

Sr.No. Dates Phases

1. Dec 4th week PCB Designing

2. Jan 2nd week Fabrication of PCB

3. Jan 3rd week Mounting of Component & Testing

4. Jan 4th week Firmware Designing & Coding

5. Feb 4th week Firmware Testing

6. Mar 2nd week Testing of Unit with Human Interface

7. Mar 4th week Final assembly & Casing

8. Apr 1st week Presentation & Documentation

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References

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Books Referred:

 USB COMPLETE By “JAN AXELSON”

- Penram Publications
 LINUX DEVICE DRIVER By “CORBET & RUBINI”
- O’Reilly Publications

Websites Visited:
 www.usb.org
 www.ftdichip.com
• Document Reference No.: FT_000006
Vinculum Firmware User Manual Version 2.05
• VNC1L Datasheet Version 0.95
• Document Reference No.: FT_000159
Migrating Vinculum Designs From VNC1L to VNC2-48L1A
Application Note AN_118 , Version 1.2
• VDAP - Vinculum VNC1L Disk and Peripheral Interface Firmware
Datasheet Version 1.07
 www.everythingusb.com
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus#cite_note-0
 http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?
IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=2896

Refrences:
[1]. A Technical introduction to USB 2.0, www.usb.org- white papers
[2]. USB Complete by Jan Axelson, 3rd Edition, Page No. 5
[3]. FT_000138, Vinculum-II Embeded Dual USB Host Controller IC Datasheet
Version - 1.1
[4]. Linux Device Drivers, USB Drivers, Page No. 327

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[5]. USB Complete by J. Axelson, 2nd Edition, Chapter 2

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Demonstration strategy

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Demonstration Strategy

 Designing of a fully functional device with two USB Ports.

 Support for only those Flash Disks that have been formatted with FAT 32 File
System
 Limiting of size of disks to upto 4GB.
 Support for Graphical Display to be provided.
 Function to copy entire Flash Disk (Memory Mapping).
 Function to read both Flash disks one by one and let user select which data to be
copied via keypad.
 The final unit will contain a small PCB with all Surface mounted packages, a
graphical/ dot matrix display, a keypad, battery in small casing.

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